Food:
Gambian food is great, or at least I think so. The only exception to this is
plasas, which I find totally vile. I mean who in their right mind wants to eat green paste with fish parts pounded into all topped off with palm nut oil (if you do not know what this is I will say it it a mostly solid that is bright red in color and has a very
distinct flavor, not a good one). My favorite things to eat here are fish balls and
domada (fish meat balls in a spicy peanut sauce over rice). I also really like
Yassa which is a sour onion sauce, so
tasty! My sister
Alima is teaching me to cook and soon I will be the perfect Gambian woman.
Clothes:
Day to day wear in village is simple, if it's clean that it is
ok to wear. Nothing is really off limits as long as you keep from your knees to your waist covered. Shirts are optional for women when they are in their compound but you will always see men wearing shirts. The big challenge with Gambian fashion is programs. These are events in the village that require you to dress up, Gambian style. For women that means full-on wrap skirt and matching shirt but they must be fabulous. If you are not fully
embroidered in gold thread, dripping lace or blinding people with sequins than you are
under dressed. I have now attended several of these
ceremonies with my family wearing American clothing. Pretty sure I
embarrassed them with my lack of flare. So last week I went on a shopping spree with my sister to get some nice
appropriate party clothes. I have to say when I wear them I feel pretty, oh so pretty I think it has something to do with the amount of sparkle involved.
Washing clothes:
Two trips to the well, three buckets of water, twenty pairs of underwear, ten shirts, four skirts, one pair of pants and a sheet. Two hours of
scrubbing, three finger bloodied by rubbing them raw. This is no easy task. Number of items that don't really appear clean when finished: about half. Must find a women in village I can pay to do this. Washing clothes sucks!!!
Boys/Men:
Men in village do various jobs, work at the clinic, farm, run the corner store, build things and drive bush taxis. However their favorite pass times are drinking
attaya (green tea) and proposing to me. I have managed to average 3 proposals a day. These range from my 6 year old
cousin all the way up to my 80+ year old grandfather. I am one hot lady in the Gambia. Most often my response is I will marry you when you can buy me a house and a compound in California. I some how doubt that I will be getting married soon.
Girls/Women:
These are the strongest most hard working people I think I have ever met. They are almost always occupied with some task for the family and usually do it with a small child strapped to their back. They pound rice,
Cook, sweep, wash clothing, clean the houses, care for the children, bathe the children, garden, do the shopping, take the children to medical visits and care for the elderly. They are pretty much super
heros, had I not witnessed most of them with out shirts on I would have
believed that they were all wearing
Lycra unitards under their dresses proclaiming them Super Gambian Woman. I am in awe of these women. Most girls in my village go to school.
Football:
As with most parts of the world the predominate game is football, for all you Americans I mean soccer. We have spent the last month watching the
African cup of Nations, and just in case you are wondering Egypt won (but they have for like the last 3 times). All the boys and most of the men in village play it. I was never much of a sports fan but I have to admit I kinda like football.
This is a picture from my front porch looking into my compound, my compound is huge though it is oddly shaped so it is difficult to get the whole picture of it.
It is sometimes difficult to get Gambians to smile when you take their pictures but this is never a problem for Lala who loves to laugh and smile all the time.
I decided to see if Gambian children would like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... they were only mildly impressed. They ate them but I think that had more to do with the fact that I made them than the fact that they liked it. I am contemplating mac and cheese as another American classic to try out on them soon. Will keep you posted on how it goes.
Lala eating her PB&J she was not a fan, she took two bites and passed it off to one of the other children. Oh well, not everyone can appreciate a good PB&J.
The children do however love popcorn, I make them kettle corn on a regular basis and they go crazy. The last time I made it I was mobbed, they started attacking each other and eventually I had to break up a fist fight and pass it out to them so they would stop beating each other to try and get at it.
This was just a pretty butterfly that landed in my backyard and hung out for a while. So pretty. My backyard also has a ton of really pretty birds... they are hard to get pictures of.
